I was definitely underwhelmed but I don't hate it either. I did love TFA, I left the theater filled with excitement and nostalgia all over again back in 2015. But this time I left...in want of something more. Like I said, I was underwhelmed. However I'm going to see it again, and the 2nd time knowing what I know now, I will try to enjoy it for what it is and not what it was expected to be. Well see how that turns out for me.

Your very first post on this board, or rather the prior version of this board, was to express your hatred of Episode II and I as well. Now this one you say you need to see it again? Did you like it old man, or not sure?

"Your focus determines your reality." --Qui-Gon Jinn
"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination." --John Lennon
"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere." --Carl Sagan

Your very first post on this board, or rather the prior version of this board, was to express your hatred of Episode II and I as well. Now this one you say you need to see it again? Did you like it old man, or not sure?

I was definitely underwhelmed but I don't hate it either. I did love TFA, I left the theater filled with excitement and nostalgia all over again back in 2015. But this time I left...in want of something more. Like I said, I was underwhelmed. However I'm going to see it again, and the 2nd time knowing what I know now, I will try to enjoy it for what it is and not what it was expected to be. Well see how that turns out for me.

Your very first post on this board, or rather the prior version of this board, was to express your hatred of Episode II and I as well. Now this one you say you need to see it again? Did you like it old man, or not sure?

Doing well. I was relatively new during your last bit of time on the old forums. Man, you gave me fits. Drove me absolutely nuts. Of course, I was "but the learner" back then. I'd like to think I'm a bit wiser now.

My last movie might have been Hostiles, at the theater. Really solid western with excellent performances from Christian Bale, in particular, and Rosamund Pike. I can see this being slow for some, but I was very drawn in, especially by those two actors and their characters.

In January, I also saw Den of Thieves and The Commuter. The former didn't offer much that hasn't been seen before in other cops versus bank robbers movies. I'd say stick with Heat or The Town. Gerard Butler was good as a hard-edged, "bad" cop, but it felt like they didn't do much to further that beyond the first 30 minutes of the movie.

The Commuter is the latest Liam Neeson action vehicle. Though there wasn't that much action. And, he got beat up a lot. Maybe that was realism given his age. Pretty forgettable thriller. I went for Liam, Vera Farmiga, and Patrick Wilson, but they were largely wasted.

Another western I'll comment on that I saw in early January was In a Valley of Violence with Ethan Hawke and John Travolta. I liked it. Nothing new offered, and it was something of a western John Wick, at least with its premise. But it got the job done and whetted my appetite a bit while I was waiting for Hostiles.

Agreed. I have a lot of discs piled up I'm eager to get to (whether or not the prove worth it in the end of course remains to be seen): F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu, Metropolis, Blade Runner 2049, several Marvel films backlogged...

Time is the problem. I haven't figure out how to slip loose of that one, yet.

My last movie might have been Hostiles, at the theater. Really solid western with excellent performances from Christian Bale, in particular, and Rosamund Pike. I can see this being slow for some, but I was very drawn in, especially by those two actors and their characters.

I haven't seen a new, or even recent, western since...I think it was The Quick and the Dead--and that was accidental: I was visiting the grandparents, and it was the only thing on the tube that evening. For me, the totality of the Western is pretty much one film, John Ford's The Searchers. I also liked Dances with Wolves, but it is, in addition to being silly if you think too much about it, also only tangentially a Western. Read the novel, too, which was significantly different. For one thing, the indians weren't Sioux but Comanche. But I ramble on...

Agreed. I have a lot of discs piled up I'm eager to get to (whether or not the prove worth it in the end of course remains to be seen): F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu, Metropolis, Blade Runner 2049, several Marvel films backlogged...

Remind me...you are a fan of Blade Runner or no? Look forward to hearing your thoughts on the new one compared to the original.

And this just clicked...if Alien: Covenant was your last movie then, gasp, you haven't seen The Last Jedi yet? (Now, I thought it stunk, but its more the idea that you haven't seen the latest SW yet. Take your time.)

I haven't seen a new, or even recent, western since...I think it was The Quick and the Dead--and that was accidental: I was visiting the grandparents, and it was the only thing on the tube that evening. For me, the totality of the Western is pretty much one film, John Ford's The Searchers. I also liked Dances with Wolves, but it is, in addition to being silly if you think too much about it, also only tangentially a Western. Read the novel, too, which was significantly different. For one thing, the indians weren't Sioux but Comanche. But I ramble on...

Now you'll be gasping...I haven't seen The Searchers. I'll fix that, though. As you said, just a question of time. Now, I've heard some say Hostiles seemed influenced in some ways by The Searchers. Since I haven't seen it, can't comment on how accurate that is. But, I loved Hostiles.

LIfe.
It was too much like Alien. I liked it, it had its good points, but I couldn''t not think of the similarities to Alien while watching it, and I was not able to suspend that feeling even the 2nd time watching it last night. But still, on its own it was a well made movie and the acting, script, and f/x were solid.

"Your focus determines your reality." --Qui-Gon Jinn
"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination." --John Lennon
"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere." --Carl Sagan

LIfe.
It was too much like Alien. I liked it, it had its good points, but I couldn''t not think of the similarities to Alien while watching it, and I was not able to suspend that feeling even the 2nd time watching it last night. But still, on its own it was a well made movie and the acting, script, and f/x were solid.

I saw it at the theater before Covenant arrived, so for me it was a way to whet my appetite a bit until then. But, I just couldn't get past the stupidity of the characters. Covenant had the same problem and was kind of a mess, too, but the connection to the Alien franchise was enough for me to put it slightly ahead. But, I was pretty disappointed with both.

It (2017). We have an expression in Swedish (it's not that old and I understand it has started to spread to the U.S. as well): Fjortis. While it comes from the age of 14 (the number, 14, is fjorton in Swedish), it's a derogatory word for immature teens. I would describe It as a fjortis horror movie and a bad adaptation of King's novel.

There are just so many things that don't work, especially moving the setting from the '50s to the '80s which made the character backstories from the novel not working at all so some of them were completely rewritten (particularly Mike Hanlon's) or not explored at all. While the movie, unlike the mini-series from 1990, included the house on Neibolt Street, not very much of the other events from the novel is depicted in the movie. It's also less a movie than a juxtaposition of scenes and the movie is full of some very poor looking CG.

The acting is mostly tolerable. Bill Skarsgård looks way too scary as Pennywise. Kids would run and not stop if they had seen him. Skarsgård (how many kids does Stellan Skarsgård have?) did a worse Pennywise than Tim Curry.

Who is the target audience for this movie? It's obviously not the youngest kids considering some of the scenes, but at the the same time most of the movie is at a fjortis level. Well, perhaps the sequel with the kids as adults will be better, but overall I think the first half of the 1990 mini-series was better.

I think the best scene was the one found among the deleted scenes on the BR where the cast and crew were joking around with Georgie taking the boat from Pennywise, says "Thanks! See you later! Bye!" and walks off with Pennywise looking at Georgie walking away and saying "Ahhhh, shit!".

Remind me...you are a fan of Blade Runner or no? Look forward to hearing your thoughts on the new one compared to the original.

After a fashion, yes. It's not the easiest movie to enjoy, it's not popcorn flick, certainly; however, I do derive enjoyment from it at certain levels, and especially--ah, hell, I'm rambling. I hope to get to the sequel soon--I want to see how it stacks up against the K. W. Jeter novels. Reaction as soon as I've managed to get it viewed.

And this just clicked...if Alien: Covenant was your last movie then, gasp, you haven't seen The Last Jedi yet? (Now, I thought it stunk, but its more the idea that you haven't seen the latest SW yet. Take your time.)

That is correct. I await the disc. I have tried to avoid spoilers, but I've seen a few things and heard a few things... I think I know where it's going, and I'm not eager to get there. I'm thinking I'll probably be giving it a stunk minus.

Now you'll be gasping...I haven't seen The Searchers. I'll fix that, though. As you said, just a question of time. Now, I've heard some say Hostiles seemed influenced in some ways by The Searchers. Since I haven't seen it, can't comment on how accurate that is. But, I loved Hostiles.

I'm thinking of giving Hostiles a look once it arrives on disc. The commercials immediately suggested a Searchers influence to me. Now, see that you get that film watched! The Searchers is a pretty good flick, and the unmistakable foreshadowing of ANH (and even AOTC) are fun besides. It's interesting that it's always promoted as anti-racist message film. For one thing, the message that always comes through to me is, "Blood is thicker than war paint," and Ethan Edwards has a legitimate reason for hating Comanches: They killed murdered his mother.

I saw London Has Fallen on tv last night. As far as action thrillers go, pretty solid.

At the theater over the last month, I've seen:

Game Night - Didn't find it as funny as most seemed to and didn't think they milked nearly enough out of the premise before they moved on from it. But, diverting enough.

Tomb Raider - Better than I remember the first Jolie movie being. But, average overall. Alicia Vikander was a good Lara Croft, but they spent too much time setting things up (with a couple needless action sequence early) and not enough time spent where in the jungles and tombs.

A Wrinkle in time - I don't remember the book at all. But I liked the movie. Could have used a longer running time, especially early on. And some of the creepiness toward the end (namely the part with Michael Pena) was much needed over the rest of the movie. But it had a lot of heart, nice visuals. Thought the performances were pretty good all around. And the move movies I see Chris Pine in, the more impressed I am.

Pacific Rim: Uprising - Sorely missed GDT and Ramin Djawadi with this one. Loved the first Pacific Rim, and this wasn't nearly as good. The action was definitely fun. But the first third was a bit of a drag with little in the way of meaningful stakes. The color, scale, and awe evoked by the first weren't present much here.

Paul, Apostle of Christ - The period details were great, and the performances strong, but this was a slow movie that didn't offer much I didn't already know. The opening scene was fantastic, giving a glimpse of the horrors for Christians under Nero (Christians burned and used as torches) and palpable dread for Luke as he arrived. But the rest of the movie lacked this tension.

Kong: Skull Island. Not as bad as I was expecting. In fact, more entertaining than The Last Jedi. Much more. Nonsensical, to be sure, but entertaining enough for a diversion while preparing and eating dinner.

So I think I've seen a few more movies since I've last posted in this thread. Let's see...

A Quiet Place - I really loved the theater experience with this one. It was so quiet at times, I was reluctant to eat my popcorn. Great use of tension. I don't know that I'll be revisiting this one, but I also think the first experience is likely to be the most memorable.

Avengers: Infinity War - There were definitely a lot of fun/cool moments. And great to see so many of the Marvel characters on screen together. The most fun scenes were some of these major characters meeting for the first time. But, overall, I wasn't impressed. Given the supposedly high stakes, I found a lot of the choices by the characters incredibly poor, especially with those that have been more of the leadership type. Some of the major threads were predictable. The final battle evoked some deja vu given the setting, and from a writing/plotting perspective I thought they made a disastrous choice right before the climactic battle that undermined the tension. There were several points in the movie where they were going for something more emotionally, but I felt we needed either more flashbacks or, preferably, to have gotten a standalone Thanos movie before this to properly set up for some of the threads. All-in-all, I'll call it middle-of-the-pack among the entries of the MCU. Thor: Ragnorok and Guardians 2 still stand as the best recent Marvel movies, and this year I'd put Black Panther slightly ahead as well.

Fracture - This is from several years back. I'd seen it in the theater originally, and revisited recently on Netflix. Cool premise involving seemingly straightforward murder case for a young hotshot attorney (Ryan Gosling) who's about to leave the state prosecutor's office for a big-time gig with private firm...and then he discovers the accused (Anthony Hopkins) as planned things out well and is several steps ahead. The middle section of the movie felt a bit slow, but overall a fun cat-and-mouse game between the two leads. Rosamund Pike looked amazing, though I'm not sure there was much of a reason for her in the movie. Wish they'd given her more to do.

Batman Ninja - Saw this on disc. Very cool, fun, and bonkers animated movie. Batman and several of his rogues gallery and thrown back in time to feudal japan. The villains war to conquer the land while Batman and his allies try to find a way to return them all to the 21st century. An anime approach by a Japanese team. Two versions of the audio with, at times, very different dialogue between the English and Japanese versions. Animation was great. Cool designs for the characters, representing the time period and culture.